Suanie said that I’ll hate her for passing me this stupid school meme, but how do you hate a suan? A display of her mightly prowess in feeding would leave you in awe and admiration, like an echantment… anyway, lets get this on.

How many schools did I go to?

SRJK (C) Hun Bin (not Huai Bin) for primary education, Chung Ling High School till form 5, then a combination of Inti, KDU, Bemidji State, and lastly, St. Cloud State Unviersity in Minnnesota. That’s not counting the 2 kindergardens I went to, I can’t recall their names to save my life. So the answer is 8.

Was I the studious nerd, or the last minute hero?

I was pretty decent in primary school, a bit of a defiant adolescent in high school. Study wasn’t exactly my top priority. I did become something in between a study nerd and a last minute hero in during tertiary education, study only a day or two before exams, but sitting in the front row and never miss any class.

Was I the class ‘taiko’ or the teacher’s pet?

A bit of a mix, dependent on the teacher. However, I was almost always a part of the group who entertains the class, for whatever that’s worth.

What was the biggest rule I broke in school?

I took a dump in the teacher’s toilet, my god, it was clean!

Three subjects I enjoyed.

At St. Cloud, it was Genetic Algorithm & Genetic Programming. Using the concept of evolution to attain a near optimal solution to difficult programming problems, that’s basically the gist of it. It was taught by 2 excellent professors covering the 2 related subjects.

Socialogy at Inti College. I didn’t expect this seemingly boring class to turn out to be rather interesting. Group think, the Harvard Stanford Prison experiment, those were some interesting things to learn.

Technical Drawing at Inti. You get dismissed as soon as you finish the drawing. I am always the first one to get done, getting out of the 2 hour class in less than half an hour. Man, I was good in it. A bummer I didn’t get to go for Architecture or Civil Engineering.

Three teachers that inspired me.

Dr. Annette Schoenberger at St. Cloud State, one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. I was lucky to be in two of her classes, she even baked us pizzas and always put little stickers on top scoring papers. Always friendly, in control, and know her stuff very well.

Winona LaDuke at Bemidji State. She was one of the professors and lecturers that was in the environmental study class. An environmental activist, once a running mate of Ralf Nader of the Green Party, author of several books, and a teacher that inspired everyone of us. The wikipedia link will tell you more about her. It was an experience of a life time to be one of her students.

Lastly, that South Asian professor I had in St. Cloud. One who drove a beat up, hail damaged, yellow 1 seater (the other seat was filled with junks) RX7 FD and can’t teach worth of nuts. He inspired me to not be like him at all.

And I’m tagging…

Everyone on my link who’s interested in this. blah.

Posted by KY | 12 Comments »

So there was this kid in the neighbourhood back in Peanng whose nickname was James Bond, I never did find out his real name even to this day. We were probably around 8-10 when this happened, hence the awesome gray scale nostalgic animation you are about to see.

This happened one day while we were enjoying a game of noob badminton on the road outside my house. As I hit a high shot over to James Bond, he tried to execute a pro smashing move aka Thomas Cup action on me. However, he missed the shuttlecock completely, the momentum of his attempt carried the racquet in an arc, came full circle and hit the it at the opposite end, behind his ass.

The shuttlecock landed on the roof of the house behind James Bond. Without realising that he had done it himself, he started blaming me that I had hit the shuttlecock up on the roof. He demanded that I buy him a new one. I, of course, told him what happened, but that boy just didn’t believe it.

I ended up ignoring him and went home, James Bond, however, cried.

Anyway, if anyone knows him, please show him this website. With my drawing & animation prowess I am now trying my best to explain it. Don’t cry now James Bond.

Posted by KY | 10 Comments »

So the Suan was feeling like having Mexican food since she claimed she never had it before (despite being a Chilis frequent visitor.) Together with Kenneth and FA, we headed to Las Carretas at USJ Taipan, took us a while and a phone call to dree to finally figure out the restaurant that I last went more than one year ago.

At last, we found it!

Las Carretas is a pretty nicely decorated restaurant with great ambiance. Though the Indian waiter did not remind me of banjo playing Mexican, the interior design and various decorative items does bring back the memory of similar establishments I visited while in the States. Consistent with every proper Mexican dining place, a plate of complimentary chips and salsa is served.

Complimentary chips & salsa. Alcoholic drinks for FA & Suan

I ordered lamb shank (memory told me that it was good), FA had tacos, burritos for Suan, and Kenneth went with Quesadillas as recommended by the waiter. As proper alcoholics, FA & Suan also had cosmopolitan cocktails or something like that.

The food, slurps..

The food did not disappoint, rich in flavor and strong in taste like how Mexican food is. However, for some it might be a little lacking in the spicy department. I suspect the chef merely tries to cater to the less tolerant group, I guess you can always order yours to have that extra kick, and a bottle of tabasco sauce accompanies the dishes anyway.

My lamb shank was very tender and well cooked. The portion is a little too big though, I did not able to finish the pasta that came with it. The taste of herbs in the gravey was subtle, not overpowering the natural taste of the meat.

The happy diners

If you’re into trying new things, give this place a go. With pretty good food and excellent atmosphere, it makes a pretty good place for bringing your date. Price wise, entrees are between RM 20 to RM 40. Prices for drinks is comparable to places such as TGIF and Chilis, however, FA (no, not FemaleAlcoholic) reported that the cocktail is potent and they did not skim on the alcohol, she likes it that way.

Here’s the map, pretty easy to find actually..

Address:
No 29 USJ 10/1F
47620 Subang UEP
Malaysia
GPS: 3.047943, 101.583163
Tel: 03-5637 3058

Tags:  FA,  kenneth,  ky,  meixcan food,  suan,  taipan,  USJ

Posted by KY | 16 Comments »

While much like Shabu Shabu King at SS2, Mizi Shabu Shabu at Bandar Puteri Puchong has a few distinctions that seperates it from it’s SS2 counterpart. First of all, the restaurant does not offer buffet, if the portion of the set meal (which is quite generous) is not enough to feed a suan (for example), then you’ll have to order more from the ala carte.

However, I do think that this is a good thing. You only order what you want, avoiding the necessary gluttony temptation of the buffet line.

Nice setting with good selection off the menu

Another welcoming difference at Mizi is the personalised steamboat set up. Each diner gets his or her own pot, which you can then customised the soup to your own liking. Add more chilli, crack an egg into it, more vege, make it boiling, or not, all without pissing off your friends who might like to have thiers differrently. As a side effect, you have a lesser chance of getting that contagious disease your friends are carrying, too.

You get your personal stove with customizable heat setting

I do feel that the food at Mizi Shabu Shabu is fresher compared to Shabu Shabu King. The sliced meat is usually still frozen when served. Some noob have been describing Shabu Shabu King as eating fishball with different shapes and colors, I reckon the same can’t be said about Mizi.

Service is very fast, as the kitchen prepared most the set meals in advance and placed them in the fridge. All the waiter has to do is to just grab what you order, no further preperation needed since the serving are all uncooked anyway. This set up reminds me of McDonald’s & Burger King.

Making you hungry for some of these yet?

Price wise, for a medium stomach it is not too different from Shabu Shabu King. You can satisfy your hunger for around RM 15-25 depending on your selection. If you like the former, I’m sure you will enjoy this place. Nicer seats, better environment, and overall a great set up, unless your appetite is extraordinary.. Give it a try.

This is the map to get to Mizi Shabu Shabu at Puchong, excellent yeh?

Address:
No 17, Jln Puteri 2/5
Bdr Puteri, 47100 Puchong
GPS: 3.023141, 101.615907
Tel: 03-8060 3221

Tags:  beef,  horng,  pork,  shabu shabu,  Steamboat

Posted by KY | 26 Comments »

Kenneth, Horny, Kerol, and I were looking for something interesting for dinner the other day and Kenneth mentioned about the excellent fresh prawn noodle (生虾面) at Restaurant Green View that was just a stone’s throw away from the SS2 mamak area, a place we frequent quite abit. With no other suggestions from the fellow noobs, we decided to head there without thinking twice about the price of the offering.

Turns out, Restaurant Green View is quite a high class place with proper servers, nice red table cloths, and diners that commute in luxury cars. Looking at other tables, we noticed that most orders huge crabs (looks really yummy), roasted suckling pig, and other interesting traditional Chinese dishes. Looks expensive…

really awesome fresh prawn noodle, check out the huge prawn!

Since we were already being seated and all, we ordered up the fresh prawn noodle for 4 and a plate of vege to go with it. I believe we were the cheapest customers that night, not that there’s anything wrong with that..

Turns out, the fresh prawn noodle was really excellent. Texture of the noodle is just right, the taste of the huge prawn (one for each serving) spread over the paste and leave a distinct seafood sweetness in every bite. Each prawn is almost as big as my palm, almost a mini lobster. I believe the prawn is the freshwater “big head” variety, which carries alot of eggs just right under the head, very juicy.

we practically cleaned the plates

When the bill came, that plate of fresh prawn noodle was RM 56.00, or RM 14 per serving. Judging from the size of the prawn, and the overall awesome taste, I wouldn’t call it expensive. It was really worth it. Maybe next time we can try the jumbo crab… I think they’re priced at RM 40 per KG, but 1 kg might be only 1 crab.. we’ll see.

Here’s the map to Restaurant Green View

Address:
6 & 8, Jalan 19/3
46300 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.118105, 101.628889
Tel: 03-7958 1076

Tags:  chinese-food,  crab,  fresh-prawn-noodle,  prawn,  SS2 SS3 SS4

Posted by KY | 23 Comments »